“Maybe Her”

Ashwin, Wills and Shaan were sitting at their usual spot in the college canteen, the unofficial headquarters of unfinished conversations.

His friend Shaan was ranting. “I’m telling you, she said I don’t communicate enough. What does that even mean? I literally told her what I had for lunch.”

Ashwin laughed. “That’s not communication. That’s a food blog.”

Before his friend could retaliate, a voice cut in.

“Am I interrupting the daily episode?” It was Kevin.

She walked toward them with that half-smile, the one that said she’d been listening for at least thirty seconds.

Shaan groaned. “Please don’t start.”

“I’m exhausted,” Shaan said, running his hand through his hair. “She fights for everything. Everything.”

Ashwin didn’t even react. “Continue from today’s episode, don’t start over again.”

Wills pushed his chair back with a scrape. “Hey, not again. Leave me out of this. I’m done.”

He walked off, not waiting for a reply, leaving Ashwin staring at Shaan… and Shaan staring at Wills.

“Alright leave him, now listen. Yesterday I didn’t text her for two hours because I had lab. She says I’ve changed. That I don’t speak like before.”

Kevin grinned. “Oh, perfect,” she said. “Season 4 just dropped.”

He ignored her.

“But when I do speak,” he continued, “she says I talk too much nonsense. That I don’t understand her silence. What does that even mean? Am I supposed to decode breathing patterns?”

Ashwin tried not to laugh.

“And if I ask her what’s wrong?” he went on, voice rising, “she says, Nothing. Then later she says I didn’t ask properly. That I didn’t insist. That if I cared, I would’ve known.”

Kevin sat down next to him. “So, you’re wrong when you speak. Wrong when you don’t. Wrong when you ask. Wrong when you don’t insist.”

“Exactly!” he pointed at her like she’d solved a theorem. “If I don’t send her something cute during the day, I’m not expressive. If I send her something… a meme, a song, anything… she’ll say, why this? You think this suits me?”

Ashwin smirked. “What did you send?”

“A cat video.”

Kevin burst out laughing.

“She doesn’t even hate cats!”

“Anyway, that’s not the point!” he snapped. “Last week I sent her a song. She said it felt dry. Dry? What does dry even mean in music?”

Ashwin leaned back. “Continue. I’m invested.”

“She fights if I don’t call. She fights if I call and sound tired. She fights if I say I’m busy. She fights if I say I’m free but don’t suggest meeting. And if I suggest meeting when she’s tired, she says I don’t understand her mood.”

Kevin tilted her head. “Maybe she just wants attention.”

“I give attention!” he almost shouted. “If I reply fast, she says I have no life. If I reply late, she says she’s not a priority. If I ask about her day, she says I’m interrogating. If I don’t, I’ve lost interest.”

Ashwin was laughing now.

Kevin watched carefully.

“And you know what’s the worst part?” he added, quieter now. “If I say I’m upset… suddenly I’m too sensitive. But when she’s upset, I have to become a therapist.”

The wind passed between them.

“And still,” Kevin said slowly, “you haven’t left.”

He looked away.

“That’s the irritating part,” he admitted. “Every fight feels like the last straw. But then she’ll randomly send a voice note saying she missed my stupid jokes. Or she’ll say she can’t sleep unless we argue about something small first.”

Ashwin smiled faintly.

Kevin raised an eyebrow. “So, she fights… because?”

He sighed. “She says if she stops fighting, it means she stopped caring.”

That landed differently.

Silence stretched.

“So, what are you going to do?” Kevin asked softly.

He stared at the table. “I keep telling myself I’ll end it. That it’s too much. That love shouldn’t feel like a daily test.”

He paused.

“I should end this before it ruins me.”

Ashwin and Kevin exchanged a quiet glance. Then Ashwin gave Shaan’s shoulder a firm pat, and without another word, they walked away… leaving him alone with the decision he already knew he had to make.

A week later, they were sitting on the terrace that evening, not the usual teasing, not the usual laughter. Shaan was unusually quiet.

Kevin noticed first. “You’re not ranting today,” she said gently.

Shaan smiled faintly. “Because this time… it’s not a fight.”

Ashwin looked at him carefully. “What did you do?”

Shaan exhaled. “I ended it.”

Silence.

Kevin’s heart skipped. “For real?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I told her we’re better off. That we were hurting each other too much.”

“And?” Ashwin asked.

Shaan laughed softly… but it wasn’t happy. “And the minute I walked away, I felt like I left home.”

That changed the air.

Kevin didn’t speak.

“I keep doing this,” Shaan continued. “We fight. I get tired. I say I’m done. I convince myself love shouldn’t be this complicated.”

He looked at his hands. “But every single time… the silence after her is louder than the fights.”

Ashwin leaned forward slightly.

Shaan swallowed. “You know what my biggest mistake was?” he said. “I thought she’d stay the same.”

Kevin frowned. “Same how?”

“She was my friend first, we laughed at stupid things, we spoke without filters. When we started dating, I expected that same ease. That same simplicity.”

He shook his head. “But relationships aren’t frozen friendships. They change. They demand more. They expose more.”

Kevin listened carefully.

“Some people,” Shaan continued softly, “they love the transition. They bloom inside it. Some people panic. Some people leave. And some… they struggle, but they fall deeper than they ever expected.”

He looked up at them. “I was scared of the transition. She wasn’t.”

The wind brushed past them.

“I thought she was becoming difficult,” he said. “But maybe she was just becoming vulnerable.”

Kevin felt that sentence settle inside her.

“I complained about her fights,” he admitted. “About how she overreacted. About how she wanted reassurance. But now… I realize she was fighting because she saw a future. I was fighting because I was afraid of one.”

Ashwin didn’t interrupt.

Shaan’s voice grew quieter. “After every breakup, I regret it. I replay everything. The way she’d send me pictures of random skies. The way she’d say reach home and text me, even when she was angry.”

He smiled faintly. “I feel like she’s not just a person. She’s… home. And I keep walking out of it. And the worst part?” he whispered. “I thought loving her as a friend was the purest form. But loving her as more… it’s terrifying. It’s deeper. It demands patience. It demands love.”

A pause.

“It feels like a headache sometimes. Like constant overthinking. Like emotional exams I didn’t study for.”

He smiled through it. “But even that reminds me how alive I am. How real it is.”

Kevin finally spoke. “So why leave?”

Shaan’s answer was barely above a whisper. “Because loving someone that deeply makes you feel vulnerable. And I’m still learning how not to run.”

Silence wrapped around them.

Then he added, “Love isn’t always peaceful. Sometimes it’s divine chaos.”

Kevin felt something shift inside her.

He wasn’t ranting. He was remembering.

“And every time I think I should leave,” he said, smiling faintly, “something small like this reminds me why I stayed.”

Kevin looked at him for a long moment. “If love isn’t just about peace… if it’s not logical… then what is it?”

Shaan didn’t answer immediately.

The wind moved between them.

He smiled… small, almost to himself. “Maybe… Maybe her.”

Shaan’s phone pinged. It was Lara.

Ashwin glanced at the screen and smirked.

Shaan winked, “On duty, people. Carry on”.

Kevin looked up at Ashwin. “He talks about breaking up like it’s logical,” she said. “But when he speaks about her… it’s like he’s protecting something sacred.”

Ashwin nodded. “He does this every time. Fights. Says he’s done. Then something reminds him. And he remembers why he fell in love.”

Kevin frowned slightly. “Is that healthy?”

Ashwin smiled gently. “It’s human.”

Kevin looked at him. “And what about you?” she asked.

He didn’t hesitate. “I don’t need reminders.”

Kevin’s cheeks warmed. She smiled… small, shy. And lowered her gaze, suddenly very aware of the way he was looking at her.

And for the first time that evening, Kevin felt stunned watching love unfold.

And for the first time, she wondered, if love was really about peace… or about choosing someone even in chaos.

~ Rachana Sudhakar🤍✨ If this story stayed with you, follow this page for more quiet stories about love, loss, and becoming.